Jenkins Kata 6: Deploying Containers (Steps 1–3)

The final step of this CI pipeline is to deploy the images as containers. This kata will demonstrate how to configure Jenkins to deploy to multiple environments. Environments are isolated sets of infrastructure to which software is deployed.

Software is typically delivered in a series of phases to a set of separate environments. Each environment is used for a different set of actions in the delivery lifecycle. The names of the environments differ somewhat between organizations. Here’s a common set of environments and their functions:

Development (Dev): This is typically the first environment where software is deployed after being integrated. This environment is constantly changing as new code is contributed and may be in a nonfunctional state at any given time. Developers use this environment to conduct basic functional testing, sometimes referred to as smoke testing.

Test: Test environments are commonly used for integration, performance, and functional testing. The test environment is also a break-fix environment, similar to Dev, and is generally not expected to be stable at all times.

Quality assurance (QA): The QA environment is typically expected to be available and functional at all times. Software deployed to this environment has been tested for essential functionality. QA environment activities include performance testing, security testing, and compliance testing.

User acceptance (UA): End users and management staff use the UA environment to validate that the software meets the requirements agreed upon between business users and IT staff. UA environments are also useful for training users on new features. Some organizations combine the QA and UA functions into a single environment.

Production (Prod): This is the live environment where end-users and/or customers interact with the software to conduct the business for which the software was designed. Some organizations split this environment into preproduction and production, providing one additional step before new software is made available to the user base.

This kata will complete the CI pipeline with a sequence of actions that will deploy the “web-storelist” application locally within the LVM. The web-storelist container will be deployed within the LVM to the environments listed above. The LVM has been set up to simulate the URLs that would typically be used. A real deployment job would deploy these containers to other servers in a data center or a cloud.

Step 1: Add the build pipeline plugin

• Click the Jenkins icon at the top left.
• Click “Manage Jenkins.”
• Click “Manage Plugins.”